Burnt Pages
by Lunadora
Summary: This story will follow Tia from the moment she got the Book of Prophecy up to the game ending and maybe a bit further. Lots of povs.


The fire spirit had lost count of how many times the scene had repeated itself. The world was being engulfed in flames as he and the other spirits watched. Slowly, the pages of the book were scattered all around, bringing the old new life to that world. And one by one the spirits were being dragged back inside the book. The new world was created, but Rempo knew better than that. It wouldn't be the last time the spirits would be summoned to that world to purge it from the evil. It was what one would call a job and even though Rempo wasn't sure why he was doing it he did it time after time. It was his turn to go back into the book.  
_"I wonder who the next one will be,"_ were his last thoughts as his flame extinguished, being trapped inside a red bookmark.

A girl was lying with her back on the ground, a gentle breeze coming from the south. It would be just another day with Tia skipping her training sessions to relax around the Sunny Hills. There was something in the place that just drew her in every time. And when she felt that it was safe enough to go back to town she'd go pay her daily visit to Fana before wrapping it up for the day. It would be just another day, like any other day.  
…If destiny didn't have other plans for her.  
The wind faded and a red bookmark started to fall from the sky. Slowly and surely it was falling. Tia opened her eyes when it was not too far from her reach and she felt the urge to grab it, extending her arm. Sure enough she managed to catch the falling paper.  
_"How strange,"_ she though, noticing the drawing in it before looking around for whoever could have dropped it. That's when the obelisk behind her started glowing.

…Not too far from there a scarred man was searching. He was pretty tall with brown hair, carrying a round shield and a sword on his back. Most people were scared of the scar he had on his face but he didn't mind it at all. All the soldiers respected it and that was what mattered.  
"Split away and search. The Prince said it should be around here," he told his soldiers.  
His men were mostly formed by loyal people that he had trained himself. But not too long ago the prince recruited new forces. Those soldiers used purple colored armors with helms that made it impossible to see their faces and had a very dark aura around them. He had heard the soldiers gossiping, fear spreading through them. He tried as best as he could to keep everything under control but sometimes he couldn't help to wonder about it too. They were all working for the prince so that should suffice. And when he noticed two of the prince's soldiers going into a different direction from his main troops he didn't really mind.  
"Let them do whatever they want," he mumbled as he, too, started to look around.

The book had a red cover and eyes, one on the front cover and one on the back. Yellow eyes that, when focused on her tin frame, sent chills down her spine. The book just floated to her hands and Tia didn't think when she reached her arms to take it.  
_"Blank pages?"_ she thought as she looked through the pages. That's when she finally found a page filled. Filled with her own picture.  
"You have it."  
Tia turned around, surprised. Behind her, not too far away, there was an imperial soldier standing.  
"The Book of Prophecy. You have it. Give it to me."  
_"Book of prophecy…? Is that what this is?"_ she thought, not sure why someone would want a book with blank pages. And still, she refused to let it go.  
"Fool, I'll pry it from your dead fingers!" were the soldier words as it quickly broke off its armor, turning into a Minotaur-looking monster. Tia stepped back but stumbled on something, falling on her behind.  
_"I'm done for,"_ she thought, closing her eyes.  
But the red bookmark flew out of the book and summoned a fire wall to keep the monster away from Tia. And when she opened her eyes the fire wall was already being shaped as a ball from where a small guy showed up. Tia could be wrong but he seemed really familiar.  
"Haha, it is good to be free!" the guy said as he flew to Tia's side.  
Tia couldn't take her eyes away from the flying guy. "Is he really flying?" she thought, pinching her arm. Maybe all of this was only a dream and she'd wake up at any moment. But the pinch hurt and she felt at a loss.  
"Who are you?" the monster asked.  
"My name is Rempo, the fire spirit," he introduced himself.  
Tia stared not even realizing that it could be rude. "I'm saved," was her first thought, and she felt safe again. Until Rempo said that the one fighting the monster wasn't him, but 'the kid here'.  
"Take out your sword!" he told her.  
"Sword? Which sword?" She looked around. It was unlikely that she had brought her sword but as the guy ordered her to get it she couldn't help but to look around for it.  
"You don't know how to use the book?" he complained, clearly annoyed. "No helping it then, I'll teach you!"  
It seemed surreal to her that she could take a sword from the book but after seeing the sword materializing right in front of her eyes there was no way she could doubt it.  
_"This is a heck of a dream. Maybe I'll tell about it to Fana later on,"_ she thought, still wanting to believe that this all was only a dream.  
Tia hated to fight. Using weapons was really not her thing. It was a surprise to her that Gustav had chosen her from all the people to be his apprentice.  
"I didn't ask for that!" she complained to Rex, her friend, back when she was chosen. But it didn't make the guy feel any better. In fact, she had the feeling that it only worsened everything. She wasn't willing to be Gustav's apprentice while Rex did. Still Tia was the one, not him.  
It was with those thoughts in mind that Tia fought the beast and defeated it, not without getting a scratch or two.  
_"Big enemies are always slower,"_ she thought, panting after giving the last blow.  
There was a pause before Rempo praised her and asked her name.  
"I can't keep calling you 'kid' after all."  
"My name's Tia."

**A girl.**  
Rempo had seen a lot of chosen ones through the ages and sure enough there were girls among them. But he couldn't remember when was the last time he had seen one like Tia. She was small and thin. For a second there he even wondered if she could hold a sword properly without the book's help. She was wearing a flower hairpin on her cooper hair and her clothes didn't match those of a fighter either.  
_"Not that all of them did,"_ he reminded himself, _"but it surely helped when they looked like badass stuff."_  
Another soldier showed up, this time his clothes were different from the first one but Rempo was sure they were all after the book.  
"There is another one. Let's fight!" He urged.  
But instead of fighting Tia ran away.  
"Hey! Where are you going? He's right there!"  
Annoyed, Rempo followed. They ran down the hill and thoughts started to fill Rempo's mind.  
_"The book is never wrong,"_ he thought, trying to ease the feeling inside him. "Hey, I think they stopped following us," he finally said to Tia. And she stopped. _"Good, at least she's obedient,"_ he thought. "Now, listen well Tia. The Book of Prophecy choose you," he said proudly before noticing the horror in her face. "Oh please! Why so shocked? This is awesome!"  
Even though he said so he knew things weren't always so nice. But he had to lie to her to get everything working. _"That's how it has always worked. She is only a little girl but I'll work her out into some fighting shape,_" he thought to himself before starting to tell her how to use the book.

In the meanwhile, back at the Sunny Hill, the scarred man is inspecting the broken armor from one of the prince's soldiers.  
"Who on earth…?"  
The way the armor was all contorted was unnatural to any human attack. And the soldier's body was nowhere to be found.  
"General Heath, there are footprints leading that way," one of the soldiers pointed to Kaleila's way. "Should we follow?"  
"No, we're already too close to enemy territory. I'll go back to the border, you report to the prince."  
**…But only one of the two purple armored knights was defeated.**


End file.
